Melissa Otero - Puerto Rico Rising Benefit Concert

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Recording artist Melissa Otero returns to Appleton to perform at the Refuge Lounge after almost four years with a benefit concert to continue her relief efforts in Yauco, Puerto Rico due to Hurricane Maria. The objective is to aid the families (Over 100 people) in the Luquetti housing complex in Yauco, Puerto Rico – a rural area in southwest Puerto Rico especially hard hit by Hurricane Maria. Due to its remote location from San Juan, it is taking even longer than normal for basic services to be restored. Meanwhile, with limited resources; including now potable water and food; the situation is actually becoming more dire as time goes on. People in these areas cannot get to the larger communities such as San Juan or even closer urban areas, such as the nearby city, Ponce, as their resources are limited, and they need to conserve what little they have left in case of emergency. What relief has arrived, though well-intentioned, is often in the form of food which is ultimately unusable - because many natural water sources have tainted, so any food requiring water can’t be cooked (spaghetti or other wheat-based foods for example) or they are given simply snacks such as potato chips and a bottle of water once a week by the National Guard. With this benefit concert we hope to bring more supplies that are immediately usable and can help ease the burden for a few weeks as more long-term relief efforts continue to take shape. Not only will this include food, but basic power sources (solar powered lanterns and phone charges) to allow for communication and other basic needs while power is being restored.The supplies will be picked up in several points along the way as not everything will be available in the same location – some will be bought on amazon and shipped, a van will be rented in San Juan where some items will be picked up, others in Ponce, and some actually will be able to be delivered directly to Yauco where another member of the team will be able to receive them safely. We will assemble the boxes at a home in Yauco and distribute to families in these hard-hit communities in the following days. We invite you to view the two documentaries released thus far. The first one is Melissa's personal experience with her family during the hurricane and immediate aftermath, the second is her first relief trip bringing supplies to the south-west part of the island. Lastly you may view a photo album of what the community looked like during the hurricane and its devastation. Hurricane Maria - Yauco, Puerto Rico: https://www.facebook.com/melissaoteromusic/videos/10155633153146091/ Puerto Rico Rising: https://www.facebook.com/melissaoteromusic/videos/10155741852151091/ Luquetti - Yauco, PR (photos) - https://www.facebook.com/pg/stardustorg/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1994470484140291 We hope you'll join us on this special night to help these families in need. Sponsored by Outer Edge Stage. To listen to Melissa's music, visit www.melissaotero.com, iTunes, Spotify or YouTube.

Melissa Otero:
Recording artist Melissa Otero is an award winning singer/songwriter living in New York City making her dreams come true. On January 1st, 2013, her single Angels and Demons was featured on Lifetime TV's Dance Moms as well as the video game Rock Band, catapulting it into a national success with over 50,000 digital downloads to date. Most recently she landed two placements on the highly acclaimed Spanish soap opera Reina de Corazones on Telemundo with her songs "With You (Contigo)" and "No Soy Un Angel" (the Spanish version of Angels and Demons) on Telemundo as the love theme for the supporting characters and the lead villains respectively.

Born in New Jersey and raised in Puerto Rico, Melissa worked hard and elicited the help of famed vocal coaches Sandra Quintana, Mike St. Pierre, and Don Lawrence, who has worked with stars like Lady Gaga and Whitney Houston. She began singing professionally at the age 14 in various local bands in her hometown of Yauco, Puerto Rico that included Spanish indie rock, merengue, salsa and others. Still, Melissa’s passion was to be a recording artist in the American market as well as the Latin.
Touring since 2010, Melissa has been able to visit many of the biggest cities in the US and has performed in front of thousands of fans. Some of her most notable performances include the NJ State Fair, California State Fair, Six Flags (Great America, Great Adventure and Discovery Kingdom), 116th Street Latin Festival in NYC, PR Day Parade in Manhattan, Elizabeth Waterfront Festival, Albany Latin Festival, Dominican Republic’s television variety shows and more.
By October 2013, Melissa had received a second television placement with her song Spellbound on Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition and later that month an ASCAP Plus Award for her success as a songwriter with her song Angels and Demons.
Fast forward into 2014 and Melissa has received two endorsements by the companies Alien Ears and Daisy Rock Guitars as well as landing a placement on the indie film by Twitchy Dolphin Flix "DisAssociationVille". She also filmed a small role in the upcoming major motion picture Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 staring Kevin James.
The Rising Tour will be the supporting tour for her new single ‘Rising’ written and produced by Nick Christian. The single is slated for a July 29th release date through Mondo Tunes/Universal Music Group distribution. It is a wonderful dance pop track with uplifting lyrics to bring a positive message to her audience. Another release is the Angels and Demons: The Remixes EP which was released July 15th and became the #19 most popular track on the Electro House Charts in Soundrop via Spotify. Featuring remixes by Eliel Arrey, DJ Amaya and Felix Ayala further broadening Melissa’s market into the EDM/Dance world.
There is no stopping this seasoned recording artist. With a few other projects still in the works and her new album Angels and Demons doing well, 2014 is sure to bring many more successes in her career.